garn meaning (slang): definition, etymology and quotations

garn

intjalso spelled Garn

Etymology From go on.

Cockney, Slang A response that expresses disbelief or mockery.

mrs pearce. […] But you dont know anything about her. What about her parents? She may be married. / liza. Garn! / higgins. There! As the girl very properly says, Garn! Married indeed! Dont you know that a woman of that class looks a worn out drudge of fifty a year after shes married?1912 (date written), [George] Bernard Shaw, “Pygmalion”, in Androcles and the Lion, Overruled, Pygmalion, London: Constable and Company, published 1916, →OCLC, Act II, page 125:
"[…] This is going to mean a gold watch and a week's outing at Southend with full pay for both of us or I'm a Dutchman." "Garn!"1934, Ernest Bramah, The Bravo of London:

noun

No plural A unit used to measure nausea. A score of one Garn means the sufferer is fully incapacitated.

Jake Garn was sick, was pretty sick. I don't know whether we should tell stories like that. But anyway, Jake Garn, he has made a mark in the Astronaut Corps because he represents the maximum level of space sickness that anyone can ever attain, and so the mark of being totally sick and totally incompetent is one Garn. Most guys will get maybe to a tenth Garn, if that high.1999 May 13, Robert E. Stevenson, “ORAL HISTORY 2 TRANSCRIPT”, in NASA, archived from the original on 05 May 2026, page 35:

noun

Etymology From Middle English garne, from Old English ġearn. Compare also Danish and Old Norse garn. Doublet of yarn.

Obsolete yarn (twisted fibers for weaving)

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — authors: page histories for garn and Garn.